TB, HIV, and the world

Every year, TB and HIV jeopardize the lives of millions of people who lack access to existing treatments due to poverty, conflict, and marginalization.

In 2024 alone, 1.3 million people lost their lives to TB, which was the most common cause of death due to an infectious disease in the world.

Another 9.2 million people with HIV could not access treatment in 2024, endangering their survival and further spreading HIV infection.

TB is curable even in people with advanced AIDS. However, when such persons develop TB they become very ill and often die. TB, in fact, is and has been the largest cause of death in persons with HIV/AIDS. TB has caused the death of a third to a half of the ~42 million people who have died of AIDS since the AIDS pandemic began in the early 1980s.

When drug resistant TB infects and causes disease in persons with HIV/AIDS, mortality climbs another 12-fold. Even in patients who do not live with HIV/AIDS, drug resistant TB is particularly deadly.

Drug resistant TB occurs when the TB bacteria mutates and becomes resistant to the usual antibiotics used to treat regular (drug susceptible) TB and it requires drugs with many side-effects and can take 2 years to treat. Most patients are left with very damaged lungs especially those who have not had access to treatment.

Access to treatment and sustainable change

We work in Cambodia and Ethiopia with local staff, communities and national programs to ensure people have access to treatment for TB, drug resistant TB, and HIV care.

We sustainably integrate our programs and support into the health systems of the countries where we work.

We provide to each of our patients the best care possible while seeking to improve standards of care locally and globally.

We integrate scientific discovery with real-world impact to decrease suffering now and in the future.